Shaking of the Sheets
by sycoandcrazy.inc
Summary: When you hear the Piper playing, everyone must dance the shaking of the sheets with me. Warning, Character Death.


It never occurred to Kuwabara that he shouldn't step in when the robbers waved their guns around and threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to get in their way. He was _there_; he had to do something. The fact that he was nearing eighty and had a wife, kids, grandkids and great grandkids didn't occur to him. It would have gone against his very nature to step back and do nothing.

So he'd stepped up to protect the innocent people trapped in the store-turned-warzone, people whose only mistake was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But he'd forgotten that spirit energy wasn't enough to stop bullets.

Still, this was Kazuma Kuwabara, warrior of love, defender of the planet. He wasn't going to let a few measly bullet holes stop him from saving everyone. And he did; he stopped the robbers, saved the innocents.

It wasn't until the last robber fell that he really noticed the pain. Like a burning fire raging through his chest, it was enough to drive him to his knees. Shaking arms caught him before he hit the linoleum floor, and he looked up into the face of a teenager who'd been working the cash register. He was just an average kid, frightened, a few acne scars, but a light of determination shone in his eyes that Kuwabara was familiar with.

"Everyone…okay?" Kuwabara asked, tasting blood in his mouth when he spoke.

"We're all okay," the teenager said. "And you will be too. The cops and ambulance should be here any minute."

Kuwabara had fought enough battles, suffered enough injuries to know that any minute would be too late.

He looked past the teenager, staring into space and waiting for Botan to come. It had to be her that came for him; Kuwabara doubted she'd let anyone else have the job.

"It's not a bad way to die," he whispered. "Saving people."

000

It was such a stupid way to die. He couldn't believe it was happening. He'd lived for centuries, survived countless battles, and now to die like this? Hiei was so mad he could've spit; if, you know, he'd had the ability to move at all.

He lay in some unnamed field in Demon World, surrounded by the corpses of the army he'd fought single handedly. He hadn't meant to fight them; he was only looking into rumors of a rouge army of demons that had planned to try and take over Human World. After centuries of peace between humans and demons, such a thing was unthinkable. Which was, of course, all the more reason for Hiei to check out the rumors to see if they had any validity.

Unfortunately, the army was very real.

He'd planned to sneak away and report what he'd found to Yusuke; as the current King of Demon World, Yusuke had to be informed so he could put a stop to the whole mess.

But then while sneaking away, he'd stepped on a blasted _twig._ Hiei, one of the great Generals of Demons World's army, one of the most power demons there was, had been brought low by a stinking _twig._

The sharp crack of the twig had alerted a nearby sentry, who'd alerted the rest of the army before Hiei had the satisfaction of removing the sentry's head from his body.

Hiei was good at fighting, but he wasn't kill thousands of powerful of demons all at once good. He could console himself with the fact that he had killed most of them, including their ringleader. Plus his death would lead Kurama and Yusuke to what was left of the army, and that would really be the end of them.

But still. Hiei didn't want to die. Not yet. He'd still had another several centuries left in him. He had plans, things he had wanted to do. He wasn't supposed to die. Not now.

_Mukuro will never forgive me for this,_ he thought. Kurama and Yusuke likely wouldn't either. Yusuke still hadn't forgiven Kuwabara for dying, and that had been over five hundred years ago. His grudge hadn't stopped him from keeping a protective eye on all of Kuwabara's descendents though. Sentimental fool. He wondered if Yusuke would do the same thing for Hiei's children and grandchildren. Probably.

_Strange things to think about when I'm about to die._

Maybe he was thinking about Kuwabara because he'd be the first from their little group to greet him in the beyond.

His vision was fading to black on the edges and the stink of dead bodies, so familiar to him, filled his nostrils.

_This wasn't how it was supposed to be._

000

"I suppose this is how it was meant to end," Kurama mused. He wasn't angry at the prospect of dying. He was more relieved than anything else. He was so tired these days, he could hardly get out of bed. Yusuke constantly hovered over him, more worried than any mother hen.

But for the moment Kurama was alone, staring up at the view of the stars outside his window. "It's about time," he said.

He was ready to greet death. It seemed as though everyone he cared about was dead. Shiori, dead and dust for a thousand years now, Kuwabara, Shizuru, Keiko, and all his other human friends gone with her. Hiei, dead five hundred years now, and Mukuro had followed him only a century later. He'd never married, so at least he didn't have that pain to carry.

Well, not quite everyone was gone. Yusuke was still there of course. And Botan and Koenma.

"I'm sorry to leave you alone, Yusuke," Kurama whispered. In some ways Yusuke never had grown up. He still took the death of his friends far harder than Kurama thought he should.

_And who am I to talk about that?_

Yes, Kurama was selfishly glad that he would not be the last.

000

Yusuke had never expected to be the last to die. Sure he was ridiculously powerful and all, but some part of him had always still expected to die young. He'd certainly never expected to live through history. He'd seen the merging of human and demon societies; seen the initial fear and mistrust on both sides that had nearly lead to war, seen the eventual peace form, and now there was no one alive except himself who could remember a time when humans and demons had lived separately.

He'd also never expected to outlive his friends though. Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama. He'd outlived _Botan_, and how that was even possible he didn't understand. Who knew Ferry Girls could die?

It wasn't like he was completely alone now. He still had his kids through his however many great-grandkids. He'd lost count at some point. And of course he still had all the other friends he made over the many years of his life.

But there was no one like the originals. No one like his very first friend, his only love, his Keiko. She'd never stopped being beautiful to him, even when she'd been old and grey and wrinkly. She'd been ashamed to go out with him as man and wife when she'd gotten older, because Yusuke had still looked so young. But Yusuke had never cared what others thought, and he'd been sure to make that plain to her.

And then there was Kuwabara. Yusuke had never met anyone so honest, so good, so genuine as his old friend and rival. Yusuke was still convinced that a better man would never be born, even among Kuwabara's descendents, of which there were many. Yusuke knew. He'd kept track of them all.

If there was anyone who could give Kuwabara a run for his money in loyalty though, it was Hiei. As snarly as he had been, he'd never made Yusuke doubt him, not in all their years of friendship. He'd never forget the first time Hiei had actually admitted they were friends. It wasn't long after Kuwabara's funeral, come to think of it.

Kurama had been a great friend as well, sharp wit and suspicious nature included. Yusuke still hadn't managed to master Kurama's habit of insulting someone while complimenting them at the same time. But Yusuke was glad at least that Kurama had died peacefully. He had earned the rest.

And now it was Yusuke's turn. He couldn't say he was bothered by it. It was, truly, about time. And really, what was there to fear when he'd done it before?

He was surprised when Koenma showed up though. "What're you doing here, Binky Breath?" Yusuke never had gotten out of the habit of calling him that, despite the fact that Koenma had grown up. His teenager form was no longer an illusion, but what he really looked like.

To think that Yusuke had lived long enough to watch Koenma grow up.

Koenma rolled his eyes. "I'm here to get you. Obviously."

"No Ferry Girl for me?" Yusuke asked.

"I thought you'd earned my personal attention," Koenma said.

"I'm flattered," Yusuke said mockingly. But truth be told, he was glad that it was Koenma who'd come for him.

Koenma held out a hand. "Come on, Yusuke. They're all waiting for you."

Yusuke had never been so eager to embrace death.

* * *

AN: Inspired by the song, The Shaking of the Sheets. While we never see the deaths of the main four in series (a very good thing), I feel that these are probable (but arguable) endings for them.


End file.
